There have been proposed pneumatic tires for sports cars suitable for high speed running in a racing circuit as well as normal traveling on public roads. Usually, such a pneumatic tire is provided in the tread portion with less grooves in order to provide a high tread-pattern rigidity, therefore, the tread portion is increased in the ground contacting area and generates a high cornering force or cornering power during running. Thus, the tire can exhibit highly increased limit performance during cornering.
On the other hand, during cornering, the ground-contacting part of the tread portion (or land portion) stands for a greater force from the road surface, generating a large grip force, therefore, once the tread portion loses the road grip as a result of exceeding the maximum friction coefficient, the tread portion suddenly begins to slip on the road surface. Thus, such tire for sports cars has room for improvement in vehicle control performance in critical cornering conditions.